Category: Recycling News

Solar power and wind (power) turbine generators have both become front-runners in energy-saving technology. They are the two main focal points in renewable energy systems today. Residential capabilities and accessibility in Bay Area neighborhoods lean more toward solar, however, wind generators have their advantages in rural or open areas.

Solar panels attract the sun’s rays, where wind turbines do not rely on the sun. They are most effective where there is a breeze or chances of high winds, such as on the shoreline, to generate power.

Solar and wind turbines are both advantageous to our environment, where they produce clean energy. They both can produce energy to heat a home, swimming pool, and even be a “driving” force for your electric car.

Solar panels are attached to a roof, are easy to install, and they provide no noise. A wind turbine’s effectiveness on a roof would not be as productive citing noise coming through walls, for example. (Check with your city about installation, as some cities might frown on wind generators within normal city or town limits.)

Both solar and wind turbines can be tied to or not tied to the energy grid; however, both will need a battery bank if you decide to use an “off-the-grid” system. They both can save us money, although, solar panels are more costly.

Wind generators will produce energy from the wind 24/7. They do not require the sun to be effective in saving energy and money. Solar panels require the power of the sun and can only be harnessed during sunlight hours. Where solar panels are pretty much maintenance free after installation, they will need to be cleaned. They will collect dust and dirt which prevents sunlight from coming in. Solar panels do have a 25-year guarantee, and are more reliable. There is a chance, though, for damage from something like a baseball, rock, or hail. They, however, have no moving parts and produce no noise. Where pretty much the only maintenance of a solar panel would be cleaning, wind turbines have moving parts.

Wind generators may require repair and replacement of its moving parts on occasion. Their propellers are detrimental to birds, and they also provide noise coming from the propellers. Where wind turbines are less expensive to obtain, maintenance can be more costly.

By doing research on solar power vs. wind power, you will determine which system for your energy savings, is best for you.

To reach or surpass your diversion goal, we encourage you to support the three R’s-“Reduce, Re-use,
and Recycle”. “Reducing” and “Re-using” materials is the cost efficient strategy to waste management.
What’s left after reduction and reuse takes place, is recyclable material. Recycling has become a huge
business unto itself! The logistics of what type of garbage and how it’s is diverted and dispersed has
opened up myriad opportunities for a profitable business!
SOUND BITE: Russ Collar, Owner of “The Original Hot Logs”. “This whole uh, process started, from
the fact that we’ve got, uh, wax produce boxes in mass, been going to landfills for years, nobody knew
what to do with them, a couple of vintners came up with the idea of how to chip ‘em up and turn them
into a firelog and, I saw the process, liked the whole process, um, and stepped in and said, yeah, it’s a
good idea, let’s see what we could do. Holiday Market actually was very instrumental from the
beginning seeing that they could save money by getting the wax boxes out of their waste stream, they
saved, they estimated 125 or150 thousand a year leaving the tipping fees and hauling waste costs and
it made it very feasible for them to deliver the waste product to us and pick up firelogs and take them
back to the store to make it very close loop, total transformation product-taking something out of the
waste stream, out of the landfill, and turning it into a real value added, real, uh, quality product.”
When you divert your waste, the recycling industry cycles billions of dollars back into California’s
economy thus adding jobs, sales, and other economic activity that are generated when those materials
stay in circulation!
SOUND BITE: Roberto M. Gomez, Facility manager at BFI, Fresno. “Recycling makes economic
sense. One is we divert material from the landfill. Two is we use less raw material, and third is we
employ people to sort the recyclable material from the landfill.”
Economically and environmentally-sound manufacturing businesses are making money by re-using
“feedstock” such as food scraps, yard and grass clippings-known as “green waste”, paint, batteries,
wood and other construction materials. The item either finds a new life as a different product, or is used
as the same product with a different owner.
Collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating, and reconstituting materials that would otherwise become waste,
and returning them to the economic cycle in the form of material for new, re-usable, or recycled
products makes CENTS (sense).
We should all look at waste as a valuable resource for the materials it contains

The rate is calculated by taking the total waste disposed at residential facilities and commercial businesses and dividing that by population. The rate has been calculated since 1989; the state had a high of 6.3 pounds per resident in 2005.

“These rates are proof that we have strong and effective resource management efforts in the state,” CalRecycle Director Caroll Mortensen said in a statement. “Now we have a new goal: 75% recycling statewide. We’re excited to work with local communities and support emerging markets to recycle and divert even more solid waste in the years to come.”

Buying non-perishable products in bulk is a good way of cutting
down unnecessary packaging.

The following tips were from the website furutefriendly.com

Here are some of my own tips, tricks, and products!

I used smaller font than I first planned. This helped save paper& ink.

Spread the word: E-mail this page to your friends or just show
them on your computer, but think before you print 😉

Spread the word: Use and old t-shirt, sweats, or sweatshirt to
make Go Green clothing. You can draw, write, tie- dye, stitch, or iron on go
green icons or words.

Eat organic food, they don’t have nasty chemicals in them and
they are all natural.

Use less paper in school. At the beginning of the year I always
buy too much college ruled paper. So this coming school year just buy one pack
and a binder. During the year if you need more, then buy it then. Also using a
binder instead of notebooks help. Because the packaging in the notebooks we
don’t use and never end up recycling.

After buying beauty products no matter how cute the packaging is
you need to recycle it!

When shopping if the bags are paper go ahead and save them to use
them as gift bags (if you think having a Hollister bag for a gift is lame go
ahead and decorate it!) if the store you are shopping at has plastic bags,
put your items in a different bag or bring a canvas bag.

When grocery shopping either have no bags or canvas bags. If you
forgot and have to many items to stick in your car get the plastic bags then
use them for garbage bags, picking up your dog’s solid waste, or if you are
having a garage sale use them for the people with a bunch of stuff.

Go through your old clothes and give them to younger siblings,
cousins, or friends.

Every season go through you house and just get rid of stuff you
don’t need any more.

In your bedroom have a garbage can for recycling, plastic
bottles, and garbage. I have recycling and plastic bottle separate because you
can bring in plastic bottles to a recycling company and get money off of that.

Have old electronics you don’t need? Recycle them to Blue Star
Electronics for free. Call (510) 259- 1879

E-waste is growing exponentially simply because the market in which these products are produced is also growing rapidly as many parts of the world cross the so called ‘digital divide’. For example, between 2000 and 2005, the Organisation of Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD) notes a 22% growth in Information Communication Technology (ICT) in China1.

Furthermore, China was the 6th largest ICT market in 2006, after the US, Japan, Germany, UK and France.2 This is astounding when one considers that just ten years ago, under 1% of China’s population owned a computer3. Computers are only one part of the e-waste stream though, as we see that in the EU in 2005, fridges and other cooling and freezing appliances, combined with large household appliances, accounted for 44% of total e-waste, according to UNU’s Study supporting the 2008 Review of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive.4 Rapid product innovations and replacement, especially in ICT and office equipment, combined with the migration from analogue to digital technologies and to flat-screen TVs and monitors, for example, are fuelling the increase. Economies of scale have given way to lower prices for many electrical goods, which has increased global demand for many products that eventually end up as e-waste.

According to E-Scrap News The gross value of printed wiring board scrap hit yet another all-time high in April at $5.64 a pound, up 4.4 percent from March’s totals of $5.39 per pound and 29.9 percent higher than the year-over-year value of $3.95 per pound.
This data represents the full metallic values of boards over time and are not the recycling values, as those values do not include the costs involved in actually extracting metal from boards, including freight, sampling charges, assay assessments, smelting, refining, process loss, return on investment, and penalties for various elements, including beryllium, bismuth and nickel.
These values are for the estimated intrinsic metal content of recovered PC boards. Some consumers label such material as mid-value. Lower-value scrap includes monitor and television boards. Higher-value scrap includes network and video cards, and motherboards.
The average value of board scrap for the first four months of 2010 is $5.40 per pound, a 27.7 percent jump over the same period last year.